While riding quickly around the track
without a plan can be fun, you may get much more out of your day if
you ride with a plan. Here I share some things that have helped me at
track days:

1) Slow down - Concentrate on
skills as presented in the classroom sessions. Speed is best attained
by increased skill and not by increased risk.

2) Be interactive - Interact with
the instructors and control riders. Ask for help and ask questions.
Tell them about concerns so that they can fix them. Ask for
observation and critique.

3) Photos and Videos - Observe
photos and videos of you riding the track. Show them to a professional
and ask for feedback. Do the photos and videos match your perception?
Often they do not.

4) Skills - Work specifically on
skills that will help you on the street. All of these skills are
covered in the classroom sessions:

a) Riding Line - Learning to ride a
good line through curves can be great practice for street riding. A
good line can help you see further around a curve before turning in.
Following a planned line also gives you immediate feedback if you
start to drift wide. Many single bike crashes are from running wide in
a turn.

b) Body Position - Expert road
riders keep their head and shoulders to the inside of the bike's
centerline during a turn. The major benefit for street riders is that
a good body position conserves lean angle. The rider will be able to
ride the same curve at the same speed with less chance of scraping
hard parts if they ride with good body position. Good body position
increases a rider's safety margin which is most important in emergency
situations during which a rider has to turn hard. Once you master the
head and shoulders, learn to rock your hips so that your weight is on
the inside sit bone doing a turn. Do not weight the handlebar ends and
work on staying loose. Try not to fight the bikes natural inclination
to turn in. Do not fight the bike by weighting the opposite handgrip
or riding with a tense body.

c) Braking Techniques - Light
trailbraking is incredibly effective for setting up turns on the
street. Light brake pressure helps the bike turn in and also allows a
rider to precisely control the entrance speed of a curve.

d) Steering - Deliberate, firm
countersteering is needed to turn a motorcycle quickly and decisively.
This skill is needed in emergency situations and when the road
tightens up.

e) Vision - Identifying corner
entries, apexes, and exits helps ensure smooth turns and that the
riders head and eyes are looking through the turn. Focusing on where
you need to go helps combat target fixation and running wide.

5) Repetition without distraction -
Repeat the same techniques on the same corners over and over again
until you see what works. I make a lot more progress at the track
because I can repeat the same corners without distractions from sand,
gravel, cars, animals, law enforcement, etc.